Sarah Goodyear

Better cities = better lives

Writer and Cities Editor, Grist, Jul 15, 11.

Tagged with quality of life, cities, equity

“The city is where we humans create culture.”

So said Joan Clos i Matheu, executive director of UN-HABITAT, at an all-day Ford Foundation conference on “The Just City” yesterday.

The room was packed with people who love cities and passionately believe in them. But the very theme of the day was an acknowledgement that the cities we live in today—as vibrant and dynamic and creative as they may be—fail us in many ways.

Yes, they are the places where we create culture. But sometimes, that culture is exclusive, oppressive, and destructive, both to the environment and to the human spirit. Cities can be terribly unjust.

At several panels over the course of the day, some very smart people grappled with how to change that reality. Here are some of the ideas that emerged, and some of the voices that stood out most clearly for me.

In the developing world especially, cities are often seen as a national liability rather than an asset, and are thus neglected. Economic arguments can begin to change that.
UN-HABITAT’s Clos: “I am trying to find ways to convince leaders that they should care about cities. In the developing world, cities are seen as a problem—a lot of poor people, annoying people, hungry people. I have finally decided to start talking about money, because that is language they can understand. Developing nations are sitting in a mound of money and they don’t see it. There’s a blindness to the value.”

Without leaders committed to social equity, the fabric of the city will suffer.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed: “If you don’t have equality as part of your core, you’re going to see that inequality in your streets and schools.”

Change expectations. People in cities deserve better than they are getting.

Daniel T. Kildee of the Center for Community Progress: “There’s acceptance of things that are not acceptable in other communities. It can’t be a “just city” if, where we have concentrations of poverty, an empty house, or school, or commercial property can sit there unused for 10, 15 years.”

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